There is no guarantee that a Basic Income will be sufficient because there is no consistent definition
Mohan et al, 2021 - Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability [Chiba, with Jiaqi Yang, Supriya Pipil, and Kensuke Fukushi, 24 March Journal of Social and Economic Development “Review on basic income (BI): its theories and empirical cases” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40847-021-00151-3 Acc 1/28/23 TA]
Compared with others, sufficiency is a relatively controversial attribute relevant to the BI level that should be given to each recipient. There are mainly two types of interpretation identified in the literature. The first type insists that BI should be set at a level high enough to cover one’s basic needs (Bill 1988; Baker 1992; McKay 2001; Pettit 2008) when he/she faces jobs and wage insecurity (Altman and Klein2018). The second type considers that the amount of BI is not necessarily fixed at a subsistence level and can both exceed and fall short of that level in a given society (De Wispelaere and Stirton 2004; Achterberg 2002; Van Parijs 1992,2004). Some scholars differentiate between so-called full BI and partial BI (PBI) depending on whether the exact amount of BI is given at more or less than a socially agreed adequate level (Clark and Kavanagh 1996; Widerquist et al. 2013). Criteria for determining an explicit level of BI in a society are considered arbitrary (De Wispelaere and Stirton 2004). Cruz-Saco (2002) reckons legitimate claims are required in setting the level of BI as the conception of the good life or one’s idea of occupation vary among people.